NOTES. DECEMBER 17, 2017
Dear readers, I was so exhausted, and happily so, by the Alabama election last Tuesday, I had to take off a few days to recuperate. I am back. The world looks better to me now than it did a week ago, I am happy to say. I have several comments I want to share with you today.
I appreciate the good reception my history of the schism has received and the many compliments people have offered. This blog also continues to be widely read, with 76,000 hits in the last four and a half months.
I appreciate the good reception my history of the schism has received and the many compliments people have offered. This blog also continues to be widely read, with 76,000 hits in the last four and a half months.
LITIGATION
Where are we in terms of the legal issues at hand?
I expect the next event in the ongoing litigation between the two dioceses will be a response from the Church diocese in the circuit court. According to the state law code, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina has 30 days in which to file a response to the independent diocese's "Complaint" of Nov. 19. That would put it at December 19 or 20, that is, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
I expect the next event in the ongoing litigation between the two dioceses will be a response from the Church diocese in the circuit court. According to the state law code, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina has 30 days in which to file a response to the independent diocese's "Complaint" of Nov. 19. That would put it at December 19 or 20, that is, Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.
You will recall that the Diocese of South Carolina's Complaint was for reparations from TEC/TECSC under the "Betterments Statute." This holds that the people who occupy property belonging to someone else in the mistaken belief of ownership are due repayment for improvements they (the occupants) made. The Complaint was filed in the circuit court of Dorchester County on Nov. 19. In the Complaint, DSC asked for sweeping reimbursements but with no specifics of what they should be (they also gave implicit recognition that the properties belong to TEC/TECSC).
My guess is that the Church lawyers will file for a dismissal of the Complaint. The SC law code says that betterments claims may be filed after a final judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs. In fact, the final judgment (Supreme Court of SC decision of Aug. 2) was in favor of the Defendants (TEC/TECSC). It appears to me as if DSC has no standing to file a Complaint for betterments. This should be grounds for dismissal.
However, DSC has also asked the circuit court for a stay in their Complaint pending the outcome of the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. So far, there was been no announcement of an actual appeal to SCOTUS, only statements about plans for an appeal. I do not see how the circuit court could issue a stay until there is something on which to found the stay. Words are not actions.
Be on watch in the next few days for an action of the Church lawyers in the circuit court.
As I have said, I think the DSC side will drag out the litigation as long as possible before finally accepting what the state supreme court has already ruled. We have a long way to go.
Now that we have had a few days to review the vote of last Tuesday in the special election for the U.S. Senate, what conclusions can we reasonably draw? Here are the outstanding ones I see:
1.---Rejection of President Trump.
This cannot be emphasized enough. Alabama is one of the "reddest" states in America. Just over a year ago, the state voted for Trump 62.1%, and for Clinton, 34.4%. That was a whopping 28% margin for Trump! Alabama voters provided one of the highest state majorities for Trump. The best summary of the AL vote is found here .
The election showed that President Trump now has the support of fewer than half of Alabama. The favorable/unfavorable breakdown for Trump was 48%-48%. In other words, as many people in Alabama now disapprove of Trump as approve. This is a staggering turnaround in only a little more than a year. The reasons for this dramatic reversal should be explored. At this point, we have only anecdotal evidence and not scientific surveys to explain why.
Nevertheless, the vote last Tuesday was as much about Trump as it was about Moore. Judging from the Alabama vote last Tuesday, Republicans should be alarmed about their prospects in the 2018 Congressional elections.
2.---"Evangelicals" in Alabama voted as a block for a credibly accused child molester and sexual predator.
"Born again" Christians voted (80%) for Roy Moore, just as they had done (80%) last year for Trump, another credibly accused sexual predator. Why?
One word, abortion.
I do not question the evangelicals' motives as I do not fault them for voting their consciences. The problem I have with them is their myopia. They have fixated too much on one issue. They are defining Christianity only in narrow terms of support for their preconceived social views. This has blinded them to the light of the broader Christian moral/ethical values at stake. Their backing of candidates whose behaviors were arguably anti- or at least unchristian has brought disrepute on the whole religion of Christianity.
3.---African Americans and young people were energized against the Republicans and President Trump.
On the whole, more African Americans went out to vote last Tuesday than had done so for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Why?
One reason was reverence for Doug Jones.
Let me explain. The heinous murder of the four little girls in Birmingham in 1963 by the Ku Klux Klan was the pivotal moment in the state's Civil Rights movement. It was the worst of the worst. It took a long time for justice to be done, but it finally came. It was Doug Jones who prosecuted the last of the Klan murderers and got their convictions in 2002. One cannot emphasize enough the high regard the African American, and others, in Alabama have for Jones. Last Tuesday, they lined up to return the favor with the four angels in mind.
The mobilization in the African American community was quiet. I for one completely missed it. I think this culminated in the week before the election through two main events. In one, the basketball great Charles Barkley campaigned for turnout. He is the most influential African American in the state of Alabama, a huge rock star. He is a native of Pell City, and still maintains a home there. He is an icon in this state. His word counts beyond measure.
A second big event was the appearance, covered widely on TV, of Steve Bannon. It was foolish enough for him to belittle the education reputation of the University of Alabama (to diss Joe Scarborough). It was spectacularly bad for him to criticize Condoleeza Rice (she had appealed for votes against Moore). As Barkley, Rice is an revered icon in this state. This Birmingham native keeps close ties and appears in the state often. Who cares if she is a Republican? She is our local woman made good, very good, and Alabamians of all political views are extremely proud of her. So, I am beginning to wonder if Bannon is not really a secret agent of the Democrats. The Republicans have a real problem with him. It is no wonder he was kicked out of the White House. I suspect he won more votes for Jones than for Moore.
---Most young people, most independents, and many college-educated white women voted for Jones.
Not only were blacks energized to get out and vote, so were young people. Jones won a big majority of all voters under the age of 44. The major university areas, Tuscaloosa County (Univ. of Alabama) and Lee County (Auburn Univ.) went overwhelmingly for Jones. What is more, they had gone overwhelmingly for Trump only a year earlier. There was a dramatic reversal against the Republicans, and Trump, in the college towns.
Another important voting demographic was white women. Although most of them voted for Moore, they did so in much smaller numbers than they had for Trump. In fact, there was a 16-20 point gap last Tuesday between white men and white women for Moore.
Although it is difficult to measure, the accusations against Moore must have influenced white urban/suburban women to vote against him. Weeks before the election, nine Alabama women came forth with credible accusations against Moore of sexually predatory behavior. Moore denied all the charges. These accusations probably would not have received the attention they did except for the "Me Too" movement that was sweeping America at the same time. Numerous high-profile men on the national stage were credibly accused of sexual harassment and assault. Some of them were forced out of their jobs. The national attention of this issue only focused the spotlight more on Moore's past. No doubt this was a factor in determining the votes of many white women and accounting for the large gap in vote for Moore between white men and white women.
Summary.
Everyone is trying to make sense of the shocking vote in Alabama. It was highly dramatic, to be sure. But, I would caution Democrats from reading too much into this. Much of the outcome of last Tuesday's election came from factors peculiar to Alabama. And, Alabama is not a microcosm of America. African Americans turned out for Jones to repay a priceless favor. Too, do not neglect the fact that Roy Moore was about the worst candidate imaginable. Outside of his fanatical "born again" base and die-hard Republicans, he had no appeal and refused even to try to cultivate any. In fact, he barely campaigned at all. Most of the time he hid from the public.
Thus, Moore's defeat last Tuesday came from a highly unusual set of factors peculiar to Alabama and others external to Alabama. The vote was obviously good news for Democrats and bad for Republicans, but both sides would do well to factor in the conditions internal in Alabama.
There is a new book out that I have ordered and look forward to reading. It is Frances FitzGerald's The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2017. 750 p. (even longer than my history of the schism).
This book has been widely praised as the best survey of the political roles of the "evangelical" Protestants in America. Time magazine ranked it as one of the ten best non-fiction books of the year.
More than half of the book deals with the political roles of the evangelicals in the past few decades.
The proper interaction of religion and politics is an issue as old as the nation. As Christians, just how are we to apply our religion to the civil sphere around us? What does it mean to have separation of church and state?
One event that bothered me in the recent campaign came from these very questions.
On Nov. 17, a group of 59 clergy in Alabama issued an open letter criticizing Moore as "not fit for office." Find it here . Although they claimed they were not telling people how to vote and were only speaking as individuals, they identified themselves with titles and church affiliations. I cringed. It seemed to me they were making an unmistakable implication on how to vote. How else was one suppose to take this in the middle of a hotly contested campaign? I found this objectionable as a violation of the principle of the separation of church and state. I had no qualms about what they said. In fact, I wholeheartedly agreed with them. If they had done this as private citizens without religious identities, there wold have been no problem.
I think the first part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is sacrosanct and we must do all we can to defend and preserve it. To be consistent, we must object to both the "evangelicals'" and the "liberals'" institutionalized interference in politics. We saw glaring examples of both in the recent election in Alabama. In my view, both were wrong.
We should vote our consciences as individuals. We should not vote our church affiliations. For the sake of both, we must keep the separation of church and state.
However, DSC has also asked the circuit court for a stay in their Complaint pending the outcome of the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. So far, there was been no announcement of an actual appeal to SCOTUS, only statements about plans for an appeal. I do not see how the circuit court could issue a stay until there is something on which to found the stay. Words are not actions.
Be on watch in the next few days for an action of the Church lawyers in the circuit court.
As I have said, I think the DSC side will drag out the litigation as long as possible before finally accepting what the state supreme court has already ruled. We have a long way to go.
THE ALABAMA ELECTION
Now that we have had a few days to review the vote of last Tuesday in the special election for the U.S. Senate, what conclusions can we reasonably draw? Here are the outstanding ones I see:
1.---Rejection of President Trump.
This cannot be emphasized enough. Alabama is one of the "reddest" states in America. Just over a year ago, the state voted for Trump 62.1%, and for Clinton, 34.4%. That was a whopping 28% margin for Trump! Alabama voters provided one of the highest state majorities for Trump. The best summary of the AL vote is found here .
The election showed that President Trump now has the support of fewer than half of Alabama. The favorable/unfavorable breakdown for Trump was 48%-48%. In other words, as many people in Alabama now disapprove of Trump as approve. This is a staggering turnaround in only a little more than a year. The reasons for this dramatic reversal should be explored. At this point, we have only anecdotal evidence and not scientific surveys to explain why.
Nevertheless, the vote last Tuesday was as much about Trump as it was about Moore. Judging from the Alabama vote last Tuesday, Republicans should be alarmed about their prospects in the 2018 Congressional elections.
2.---"Evangelicals" in Alabama voted as a block for a credibly accused child molester and sexual predator.
"Born again" Christians voted (80%) for Roy Moore, just as they had done (80%) last year for Trump, another credibly accused sexual predator. Why?
One word, abortion.
I do not question the evangelicals' motives as I do not fault them for voting their consciences. The problem I have with them is their myopia. They have fixated too much on one issue. They are defining Christianity only in narrow terms of support for their preconceived social views. This has blinded them to the light of the broader Christian moral/ethical values at stake. Their backing of candidates whose behaviors were arguably anti- or at least unchristian has brought disrepute on the whole religion of Christianity.
3.---African Americans and young people were energized against the Republicans and President Trump.
On the whole, more African Americans went out to vote last Tuesday than had done so for Obama in 2008 and 2012. Why?
One reason was reverence for Doug Jones.
Let me explain. The heinous murder of the four little girls in Birmingham in 1963 by the Ku Klux Klan was the pivotal moment in the state's Civil Rights movement. It was the worst of the worst. It took a long time for justice to be done, but it finally came. It was Doug Jones who prosecuted the last of the Klan murderers and got their convictions in 2002. One cannot emphasize enough the high regard the African American, and others, in Alabama have for Jones. Last Tuesday, they lined up to return the favor with the four angels in mind.
The mobilization in the African American community was quiet. I for one completely missed it. I think this culminated in the week before the election through two main events. In one, the basketball great Charles Barkley campaigned for turnout. He is the most influential African American in the state of Alabama, a huge rock star. He is a native of Pell City, and still maintains a home there. He is an icon in this state. His word counts beyond measure.
A second big event was the appearance, covered widely on TV, of Steve Bannon. It was foolish enough for him to belittle the education reputation of the University of Alabama (to diss Joe Scarborough). It was spectacularly bad for him to criticize Condoleeza Rice (she had appealed for votes against Moore). As Barkley, Rice is an revered icon in this state. This Birmingham native keeps close ties and appears in the state often. Who cares if she is a Republican? She is our local woman made good, very good, and Alabamians of all political views are extremely proud of her. So, I am beginning to wonder if Bannon is not really a secret agent of the Democrats. The Republicans have a real problem with him. It is no wonder he was kicked out of the White House. I suspect he won more votes for Jones than for Moore.
---Most young people, most independents, and many college-educated white women voted for Jones.
Not only were blacks energized to get out and vote, so were young people. Jones won a big majority of all voters under the age of 44. The major university areas, Tuscaloosa County (Univ. of Alabama) and Lee County (Auburn Univ.) went overwhelmingly for Jones. What is more, they had gone overwhelmingly for Trump only a year earlier. There was a dramatic reversal against the Republicans, and Trump, in the college towns.
Another important voting demographic was white women. Although most of them voted for Moore, they did so in much smaller numbers than they had for Trump. In fact, there was a 16-20 point gap last Tuesday between white men and white women for Moore.
Although it is difficult to measure, the accusations against Moore must have influenced white urban/suburban women to vote against him. Weeks before the election, nine Alabama women came forth with credible accusations against Moore of sexually predatory behavior. Moore denied all the charges. These accusations probably would not have received the attention they did except for the "Me Too" movement that was sweeping America at the same time. Numerous high-profile men on the national stage were credibly accused of sexual harassment and assault. Some of them were forced out of their jobs. The national attention of this issue only focused the spotlight more on Moore's past. No doubt this was a factor in determining the votes of many white women and accounting for the large gap in vote for Moore between white men and white women.
Summary.
Everyone is trying to make sense of the shocking vote in Alabama. It was highly dramatic, to be sure. But, I would caution Democrats from reading too much into this. Much of the outcome of last Tuesday's election came from factors peculiar to Alabama. And, Alabama is not a microcosm of America. African Americans turned out for Jones to repay a priceless favor. Too, do not neglect the fact that Roy Moore was about the worst candidate imaginable. Outside of his fanatical "born again" base and die-hard Republicans, he had no appeal and refused even to try to cultivate any. In fact, he barely campaigned at all. Most of the time he hid from the public.
Thus, Moore's defeat last Tuesday came from a highly unusual set of factors peculiar to Alabama and others external to Alabama. The vote was obviously good news for Democrats and bad for Republicans, but both sides would do well to factor in the conditions internal in Alabama.
RELIGION AND POLITICS
There is a new book out that I have ordered and look forward to reading. It is Frances FitzGerald's The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. NY: Simon and Schuster, 2017. 750 p. (even longer than my history of the schism).
This book has been widely praised as the best survey of the political roles of the "evangelical" Protestants in America. Time magazine ranked it as one of the ten best non-fiction books of the year.
More than half of the book deals with the political roles of the evangelicals in the past few decades.
The proper interaction of religion and politics is an issue as old as the nation. As Christians, just how are we to apply our religion to the civil sphere around us? What does it mean to have separation of church and state?
One event that bothered me in the recent campaign came from these very questions.
On Nov. 17, a group of 59 clergy in Alabama issued an open letter criticizing Moore as "not fit for office." Find it here . Although they claimed they were not telling people how to vote and were only speaking as individuals, they identified themselves with titles and church affiliations. I cringed. It seemed to me they were making an unmistakable implication on how to vote. How else was one suppose to take this in the middle of a hotly contested campaign? I found this objectionable as a violation of the principle of the separation of church and state. I had no qualms about what they said. In fact, I wholeheartedly agreed with them. If they had done this as private citizens without religious identities, there wold have been no problem.
I think the first part of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is sacrosanct and we must do all we can to defend and preserve it. To be consistent, we must object to both the "evangelicals'" and the "liberals'" institutionalized interference in politics. We saw glaring examples of both in the recent election in Alabama. In my view, both were wrong.
We should vote our consciences as individuals. We should not vote our church affiliations. For the sake of both, we must keep the separation of church and state.
